My Ultimate Chilli Con Carne

7

October 24, 2013 by Dewi

Get the slow cooker out for what I consider to be the perfect chilli con carne

There are so many different chilli recipes out there. It’s one of those dishes which everyone makes slightly differently, everyone likes to add their own twist on it to make it their own. I’m no different. I’ve made countless chillies in my time, but rarely will I do exactly the same thing, or use exactly the same ingredients, twice

When making chillies I’ve always experimented and tried different combinations. Beef or pork? Mince or stewing steak? Tomatoes? Chocolate? Stock?

It’s all lead me to this recipe, and trust me when I say that it’s a belter. I use shin of beef (the king of the slow cooking cuts) which cooks down to become the most tender meat imaginable. I also add beef stock, chopped tomatoes and freshly brewed coffee (trust me, it works a treat). It’s got a kick too, as any proper chilli con carne should. You can make this on the hob or in the oven (simply cook it for about 4-5 hours on low heat) but I like to make this chilli in the slow cooker, where I can leave it to blip away quietly overnight, or whilst I’m out for the day. What a meal to welcome you home from a hard day’s work!

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 800g-1kg shin of beef – diced into 2cm chunks
• 2 medium red onions, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 2 red peppers, roughly chopped
• 4 red chillies, roughly chopped (seeds and all!)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 400g tinned tomatoes
• 200ml freshly brewed strong coffee
• 250ml beef stock
• 400g can kidney beans, drained

Method

Switch on the slow cooker and set it to low

Place a large pan over a high heat with a few splashes of olive oil

In batches, brown the beef in the pan until sealed all over. Add to the slow cooker.

Lower the heat to medium and in the same pan, sweat the onions and carrots until starting to soften (about 8 minutes)

Add the garlic, chillies and peppers and cook for a further 3-4 minutes

Stir in the spices and cook for 1 minute

Add the tomato purée and cook out for 1 minute

Transfer everything to the slow cooker

Pour in the coffee, stock and tomatoes

Add a generous grind of black pepper (you may not need to add salt, depending on how salty your beef stock is)

Cook on low for around 8 hours, adding the kidney beans for the last hour of cooking

Serve with rice or jacket potatoes.